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The Pillar of Heb
The Pillar of Heb is a tight-knit society of Hive-Cities, with a significant territory bordering Caelumnen land on Biashur and controlling most of the south pole of Elmirri. Although they suffer a great deal of xenophobia do to their odd appearance, the people of Heb produce more food than any other single faction, and have the most advanced biotech and cyberware anywhere in the system. The Pillar’s alliance with Anaira is one of the oldest peace accords in recorded history. The Pillar of Heb was named after its semi-legendary founder, known only as Heb, who is believed to have united the taushikid people under a single, republican banner, after centuries of warfare and widespread fascism. The validity behind this origin story is questionable, but all evidence shows that historically the taushik were at the very least suffering from a longstanding period of fascist regimes battling each other. Affiliated Races The Taushik Singular: Taushik Plural: Taushik Adjective: Taushik, Taushikid : Colloquial: Karikus/Kariki (Caelumnen), Buthug/Buthugs (Human, Srii), Bug/Bugs (Human, Slur) PLAYABLE RACE 'Base Stats:' : Strength: > 7 Intelligence: No modifier Wisdom: No modifier Dexterity: No modifier Constitution: > 7 : Charisma: No modifier Armor Class: 7 'Speed:' : Overland: 5km per hour Combat: 18/36 meters 'Special Rules:' : Steady Stance: Effects that normally knock one prone will only knockback (distance varies) a taushik. Knockback attempts are ineffective. Slow Focus: -1 to all initiative rolls. Cannot exceed skill level 2 in Perception. Large and Heavy: Cannot exceed skill level 1 in Athletics and/or Stealth. Insatiable Curiosity: At the start of the game, a taushik player may sacrifice the ability to move past skill level 1 in two skills to take on an additional skill of the player’s choosing. Protogyny: If a taushik character is under 33 years of age, they will be male, and if over 33 will be female. Male taushik have a -1 modifier to wisdom and constitution, but a +1 to dexterity and strength. This is flipped for females, -1 to dexterity and strength, but +1 to wisdom and constitution. If a taushik character reaches 33 years of age in-game, than a one year period is necessary to transition, during which the character will receive none of these modifiers. During this transition the player will grow 2d6 inches in height, at a rate of 1/12 the total change per month. : Biotech Masters: Taushik may choose the faction specific skill Tech/Biotech as an option when choosing a tech skill. 'Biology and Appearance:' Taushik are large, broad-shouldered and insectiod. They stand generally between 6 and 8 feet in height and are often almost as broad as they are tall, although some reports of larger taushik have been made. Taushik have an upper torso resembling the human body plan, although somewhat loosely, with two muscular arms tipped with tentacles and a head between their shoulders. The most notable difference is the somewhat literal interpretation of “between their shoulders,” where the neck sprouts forward from the top of the chest, rather than up and away from it, and the odd, mantis-like posture they carry their arms with. Their body itself is smooth and hairless, and much of it is covered with large chitinous plates, the largest of which cap their massive shoulders. These plates gradually grow over the course of their lives, giving elders a distinctive rack of thick branching horns emerging from them. Their faces are angular and covered in a multitude of tiny plates, covering their complicated and crab-like oral structures. Their eyes rest on a pair of short stalks which attach to the back of their heads, and are small, but very expressive. While unable to focus on objects quite as quickly as humans are, they’re able to see a little bit into both the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums of light. The lower bodies of taushik are more reminiscent of their alien nature. Four large digitigrade legs radiate from the base of the torso, each heavily plated and capped with two large talons. This body plan makes it very hard to trip or knock over a taushik, although they find running, jumping, and climbing to be significantly more difficult and tiresome than most. The taushik, despite their bizarre appearance, rely primarily on sight and sound to move throughout their world, and are somewhat renowned for having a particularly poor sense of smell. Naturally, taushikid bodies are almost devoid of color, with white skin and pale-beige chitin, but almost universally they will undergo extensive bodily modification, adorning themselves with skin-dyes, tattoos, ritual scars, piercings, and implanting jewelry and gems into their plating. Unless they deem it necessary, taushik tend not to wear clothing, and have no taboos regarding modesty or the body. At the same time however, they have no taboos regarding wearing clothing either, they simply find it unnecessary and usually uncomfortable. They’re perfectly comfortable bundling up to keep warm, or wearing armor for protection. Taushik are born with only vestigial sexual characteristics, like most races are. Once they reach about eleven years of age, they undergo a process markedly similar to human puberty, where they develop functioning genetalia and begin to experience the urge to mate. However, all entering this stage become male. Over time, they will undergo another transition similar to this “puberty” around the age of 33, at with point they will lose their male genetalia and develop female sexual characteristics, a process known as protogyny. Taushik grow throughout their lives, but tend to have major spurts during the transitions from child to male, and male to female. Because of this, males tend to be smaller and not quite as physically tough. When male, taushik tend to be more aggressive and impatient, and will often spend only very brief periods of time in a particular place, usually only a few months. They also have significantly higher libidos than females, and brief, homosexual flings are common between males. Prostitution is also a common practice during this stage, as taushik have no taboos regarding sexual businesses, and the majority of taushik come from pairings with prostitutes rather than anything resembling marriages or romantic involvement. As taushik mature into the female stage of their lives, they become more stable and willing to build a home. Many become teachers, passing down the knowledge they’ve garnered from their male journeys to those who will listen. This doesn’t mean that taushik females will be content to “settle down.” While they may spend years at a time in one place, taushik females still retain the engrained biological need to explore and discover, they simply do so in a slower, more paced manner. 'Society:' Taushikid society is both tightly-knit and loosely regimented. Children are raised by their mothers and teachers, and enter into apprenticeships early in their lives. Knowledge is often very hereditary, passing from master to apprentice over the course of centuries. Despite this, taushik are notoriously curious beings, and will spend the vast majority of their lives learning bits and pieces of information and odd little skills. Taushik exemplify the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none.” This being said, taushik do prefer to specialize in one specific area. It’s just that they can rarely hold their attention long enough to master many more than one. A taushik will have dabbled in many disciplines, but they will often return to their primary profession easily. Taushik are restless, and after falling into a routine for a few years, (or a few months if male) will drop what they’re doing to explore the world and see their options. Often, taushik will simply return from these walkabouts to their original homes, but if they find a life they consider to be better, they will not hesitate in settling down (for the next few years) elsewhere. Taushik are largely unfamiliar with the concept of romantic love, but contact with other races and their insatiable curiosity has led to many more liberal taushik to experiment with extended sexual exclusivity with close friends and partners. This phenomenon is most common among female taushik, who are able to maintain commitment long enough to warrant strong emotional attachment. Architecture and Vehicle Design The Pillar of Heb makes extensive use of biotechnology, and nowhere is this more easily seen than in taushikid architecture. Most villages and small settlements are made of common materials, such as stone, plaster, or concrete, but in place of the plasteel and duracrete that make up most major cities, the taushik make use of a massive colony of living organisms, called an aiyem. (Note: A common trope in taushikid horror literature involves aiyem turning against their inhabitants, either by becoming sentient or by infection of some sort of “zombie virus.”) Taushikid aiyem are without a doubt the largest organisms known to exist, and are a very significant part of taushikid culture. Supposedly the first aiyem were bred/spliced by Heb hirself. Aiyem start as seeds, usually the size of a quarter. When planted and watered, they begin to grow a tree-like tower. Over time, the right processes allow the taushik to encourage the aiyem to grow only in certain ways and directions. Certain parts of aiyem react to a myriad of different stimuli. Chemical signatures are used to create large exterior extensions and expansions, while certain wavelengths of light are used to create rooms and furniture. Aiyem themselves are significantly less disgusting than many races consider them to sound. The halls are paved with chitinous plates, while bright bioluminescent tubes glow from the scaly, leathery walls. Electrical outlets are interspersed throughout the complex, using large muscular batteries to make the required power. Warm and cold water is supplied through a series of tubes and bladders. Security cameras, or in this case, eyes, dot the hallways for safety’s sake, each one connected to complex machinery, translating the neural signals into electrical ones which can be displayed on screens in security hubs. Large parks filled with native plant and animal life are sectioned out for recreation, and enormous spiral farm towers grow around reservoirs. Transparent, glass-like membranes are washed with tear ducks and dot outward facing walls to create windows. Internal body temperature is regulated and kept comfortable for inhabitants, and large fat stores are kept to retain surplus energy. Aiyem tend to be dome-shaped, and punctuated with large towers. Their exterior is covered in a tough, photosynthetic layer of skin and a layer of retractable rigid chitin plates. Naturally they grow to have a sort of red-orange hue, but some taushik will implant them with skin dyes to have any range of colors. Alteration of interior surfaces, such as branding or tattooing the walls of an aiyem is very strictly forbidden, unless given express permission by the ruling parties. Some more recently bred/spliced aiyem have a chameleonic skin in some parts of them, allowing messages and tracking lights to be displayed without needing to affix anything to the complex interior. While taushikid vehicles are not quite as exotic as aiyem , they do still retain a fair degree of biotech. Most taushikid vehicles are designed in one way or other to imitate the appearance of a creature from their homeworld. This gives many of their vehicles a reliance on significantly more bizarre control and propulsion systems than most vehicles, resulting in a prevalence of ornithopters, and walking vehicles. In order to repair, upgrade, or pilot taushikid vehicles, special training is required. Government The taushik govern themselves with a highly versatile and argumentative senate. Senators are determined by democratic election, and while any taushik is allowed to run for office once they’ve reached the female stage of their lives, only a very small number do. Taushikid politics are filled with a highly debative culture, and very specific rhetorical methods are used. Senatorial culture is held in extremely high regard, as evidence of Heb’s methods being put to work. However, the restlessness of the taushik makes the term-lengths of most senators extremely short, and ensures that many senators come from all sorts of backgrounds, from oration to military service to agriculture. Senators live in a special enclave near debating halls, toward the center of most villages or aiyem. Category:Factions